QuestionSelect the correct answer.
In right triangle and are complementary angles and . What is ?
A.
B.
C.
D.
Studdy Solution
STEP 1
What is this asking? If the sine of angle A is 8/9, and angles A and B are complementary in a right triangle, what's the cosine of angle B? Watch out! Don't mix up sine and cosine, and remember what "complementary" means!
STEP 2
1. Define Complementary Angles
2. Relate Sine and Cosine
3. Calculate Cosine B
STEP 3
Alright, so we're dealing with **complementary angles**.
What does that even mean?
It means they add up to !
Since we're in a right triangle, and one angle is , the other two *must* be complementary.
So, we know .
STEP 4
Now, here's the magical connection between sine and cosine of complementary angles: the sine of an angle is equal to the cosine of its complement!
Think of it this way: in a right triangle, if you switch your focus from one acute angle to the other, the opposite side becomes the adjacent side, and *voilà*!
Sine turns into cosine.
STEP 5
Mathematically, we can write this as .
Since , we can rewrite this as .
Therefore, .
STEP 6
We're given that .
And we just figured out that .
So, guess what?
We're practically done!
STEP 7
If and , then *must* also be !
STEP 8
So, the cosine of angle B is , which corresponds to answer choice B!
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